Bluff Point is a prominent headland near the north shore entrance to Kachemak Bay with an elevation ranging from approximately 300 to 700 feet (100 to 215 m), about 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Anchor Point and 4 miles (6 km) west of Homer, Alaska. The headland is located in Cook Inlet on the western shore of the Kenai Peninsula and was named in 1880 by William H. Dall of the US Coast and Geodetic Survey. The Border Ranges Fault runs roughly parallel to the axis of Kachemak Bay. It separates the Mesozoic sedimentary rocks of the Peninsular terrane to the west, forming the Kenai lowlands, from the highly deformed and metamorphosed Mesozoic rocks of the Chugach terrane to the east, which form the Kenai Mountains. Bluff Point consists of sedimentary rocks from the Beluga Formation, deposited during the Miocene era. These rocks were weakly lithified into layers of sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, shale, coal, and minor volcanic ash. The Beluga Formation on the Kenai Peninsula is up to 5,000 feet (1,525 m) thick and is overlain by unconsolidated surficial sediments deposited by glaciation or stream floodplains. The thickness of these surficial deposits varies from less than 3 feet (1 m) to over 150 feet (50 m). Most of the western coastline of the Kenai Peninsula, between Kenai and Homer, is receding due to wave erosion. This erosion has led to significant property loss and the destruction of buildings constructed near the edge of the coastal bluff. Erosion is a serious issue, particularly where the bank consists of weakly lithified or unconsolidated sediments. The current cycle of erosion apparently began after the 1964 Alaska earthquake, when the western Kenai Peninsula subsided relative to sea level. Shoreline retreat will continue until beaches are sufficiently built up to protect sea cliffs from wave attack.

From 1899 to 1902, the Cook Inlet Coal Fields Company prepared extensively to develop coal in the Homer district near Bidarki Creek, approximately 2 miles (3 km) east of Bluff Point. The company built a large dock at the tip of Homer Spit and a 42-inch (107 cm) gauge railroad from the dock to Bidarki Creek. Underground work involved excavating three tunnels into the coal bed in the beach bluff and starting two mining shafts a short distance from the bluff. Despite these efforts, the company produced only a few hundred tons of low-grade sub-bituminous coal. According to US Geological Survey records, the next coal-mining activity in the Homer district occurred in 1915. Operations resumed near Bidarki Creek under the new coal-leasing law enacted in 1914, which allowed permits to mine coal on tracts of 10 acres (4 ha) or less. Although there are no detailed production records, the Bluff Point mine was the largest of several operations under similar permits in 1915, collectively producing about 1,400 tons of coal. Production at Bluff Point continued until 1923, with the operation transitioning from a permit to a lease in 1920. Records show that about 1,200 tons (1,089 metric tons) of coal were mined in 1921, 2,700 tons (2,449 metric tons) in 1922, and 700 tons (635 metric tons) in 1923. No records indicate that the mine was operational between 1924 and 1945. In 1946, the Homer Coal Corporation took over the Bluff Point mine, constructing a new camp and starting underground development. Development work and incidental coal production continued until 1951, when an extensive engineering study, including drilling nine diamond-drill holes, was conducted to assess reserves of stripping coal. Since then, no production has been reported from this property. The total commercial production in the Homer district is unknown but likely does not exceed a few thousand tons. Additionally, local residents have for many years collected coal washed up on the beach or dug from convenient outcrops farther inland.

The Bluff Point headwall creates a substantial gap in the bluff, now covered with grassy meadows, dense alders and spruce, and four small ponds. This mile-wide (1.6 km) chasm resulted from the Bluff Point Landslide, a massive collapse caused by a slump about 2,250 years ago, likely triggered by a major subduction zone earthquake. The landslide is the largest slope failure along the southwestern shore of the Kenai Peninsula, extending 3.4 miles (5.5 km) in a northwest-southeast direction, parallel to the coastline. Depth soundings indicate that the landslide body, measured perpendicular to the coast, was 1 to 1.2 miles (1.7 to 2.0 km) long. The deposit’s composition suggests the landslide stemmed from the failure of moderately to weakly consolidated mudstone and sandstone of the Beluga Formation. The initial failure likely occurred when the Late Wisconsin glacier that once filled Kachemak Bay receded, leaving the slope unsupported. Subsequent slumping may have been caused by ongoing wave erosion at the base of the high sea cliff and seismic activity. However, no additional slumps were identified following the 1964 Alaska earthquake. In July 2009, the high bluff face between Bluff Point and Diamond Creek collapsed onto the upper end of an old slide block, rotating it and creating a mound about 15 feet (4.5 m) high. This mound extended approximately 1,200 feet (366 m) into the intertidal zone along the beach. The rotated shale layers in the center of the mound were nearly vertical. Over the following winter, wave erosion completely removed the mound. This version improves logic, flow, and consistency while adhering to the requested style guide and word count constraints. Read more here and here. Explore more of Bluff Point and Kachemak Bay here: